While summer doesn’t officially end until September 23, we here at AYO are scrambling to check some of the season’s best reads off our list. Below are some of our favorite books to come out this summer (plus a bonus paperback reprint)–all by Black women across the diaspora.
Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
In her riveting second novel, Dennis-Benn explores a love between two women caught between two countries worlds apart. Searing and timely, Patsy is a clear-eyed portrayal of womanhood, motherhood and the lasting consequences of sacrifices made for love.Â
Speaking of Summer by Kalisha Buckhanon
When her twin sister Summer goes missing, Autumn is determined to find out what happened, with or without the help of the police, who have grown indifferent to searching for yet another Black woman. A fast-paced thriller set in Harlem, Speaking of Summer unpacks victimhood and justice, family secrets, and the devastation of loss.
Beneath the Tamarind Tree: A Story of Courage, Family, and the Lost Schoolgirls of Boko Haram by Isha Sesay
Journalist Isha Sesay’s harrowing account of the brutal abduction schoolgirls in Chibok, Nigeria by Boko Haram terrorists is a stark reminder of the great unfinished business of our generation: equality for girls and women around the world.
The Yellow House: A Memoir by Sarah M. Broom
A haunting debut set in a marginalized area of New Orleans, The Yellow House examines the hundred-year history of Broom’s family, their relationship to home and homestead, and a sharp critique of a country through the lens of one of its most mythologized and complicated cities.
Dressed in Dreams: A Black Girl’s Love Letter to the Power of Fashion by Tanisha C. Ford
Culture writer Tanisha C. Ford takes a peek into the fashion closet of Black America across generations, from Afros to high-tops, go-go boots to sports jerseys, bamboo earrings, baggy jeans and more.
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X, With the Fire in High is a spellbinding novel about a teenage Afro-Latinx mom juggling a lot on her plate–all the while setting her sights set on achieving what feels impossible: a culinary career and a life that defies the expectations placed upon her.
Bonus Read: She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore
Newly released in paperback, Wayétu Moore’s powerful debut novel recreates the infancy of the West African country of Liberia through three characters connected across countries and through time, weaving together worlds unimagined.
